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Monday Mini: Post Pandemic Social Anxiety

Monday Mini: Post Pandemic Social Anxiety

Released Monday, 11th March 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
Monday Mini: Post Pandemic Social Anxiety

Monday Mini: Post Pandemic Social Anxiety

Monday Mini: Post Pandemic Social Anxiety

Monday Mini: Post Pandemic Social Anxiety

Monday, 11th March 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Episode Transcript

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0:05

Hey, this is Anny and Samantha. I want some stuff

0:07

I've never told you. Protection of iHeart radio and

0:18

welcome to an episode that was going to be a happy

0:21

hour. And then I was doing research and I was like, what

0:23

is this. This is a Monday Mini, so

0:27

we get a whole Monday mini out of it. I

0:30

was inspired because my quarantine

0:32

universary is coming up, many people's quarantin universaries

0:35

coming up, and I was just thinking

0:37

about some of the instances I've been out

0:39

and about lately, and

0:42

you and I have discussed this, but there's

0:44

just still something. I'm

0:48

still very stressed. And

0:51

it turns out there's a lot of research behind

0:53

this and we are in alone, Samantha. I love it.

0:55

Oh but by the way, my phone just

0:57

gave me a Google alert from Google Apps

1:00

telling me I was in Orlando four years ago and

1:02

that was when everything was shutting down

1:04

and things were being canceled left in the right, and I'm

1:06

like, why am I here?

1:09

Yep, I was in Canada. It is a

1:12

time for us. Yes,

1:17

So I wanted to share some of

1:19

this research because I think a lot of people can relate.

1:21

I bet you'll, Samantha. You can

1:23

have some thoughts about this. I

1:26

will give it a minor content warning for

1:28

anxiety, anxiety around weight

1:30

gain ableism, and

1:32

fat phobia. So

1:36

when I was researching this, I found a lot of articles

1:39

about quote post pandemic

1:41

social anxiety. So I

1:44

am trying to go out more, and I am I

1:46

am going out more, but

1:48

it makes me incredibly anxious and

1:50

I feel really awkward, and I

1:52

learned that I am not alone. I've

1:55

also heard this from a lot of my friends, including

1:57

some that surprised me. I was like, oh really, And

2:00

there's even a new acronym

2:03

phono fear of normal

2:05

uh, And there.

2:08

Is just like antagonizing

2:11

what you making.

2:12

Why I feel a little attacked

2:14

by it as well. There is actual

2:17

research and data on all of this. So from

2:19

a Forbes Health study, around fifty

2:21

nine percent of respondents reported finding it harder

2:23

to make relationships since the pandemic.

2:27

One of the main reasons for why that

2:29

was given was not knowing what to say or

2:31

how to interact. Reported

2:35

feeling more depressed since the pandemic,

2:38

which does have an impact on physical

2:41

health. A lot of people reported

2:43

being hyper aware of themselves

2:45

when around other people, which we've discussed as well.

2:48

I feel like probably a couple

2:50

times a year, you and I have an

2:52

episode where we're like, we went to this party and it

2:54

diday.

2:55

Go why did you do this?

2:57

Yeah? Yes, And one

2:59

of the things I was thinking about was our recent

3:02

trip to the office, which was very

3:04

awkward, and then I

3:06

had a recent hangout where I was like, I

3:08

just felt like I was very awkward. But some

3:12

people also reported that they don't miss

3:14

everything they were doing before the pandemic and

3:17

they are still enjoying their alone time as

3:19

they said. But that

3:21

being said, there is a difference between loneliness and

3:23

alone time. Like loneliness, prolonged

3:25

loneliness isn't good for your health, and

3:28

socializing does have many benefits. However,

3:30

that socializing works because that can be texting,

3:33

that can be it doesn't have to be one

3:36

specific thing. And again reminder,

3:39

COVID has not gone away, so a lot of people

3:42

report that they still don't feel safe

3:45

and Pulluminary research indicates that contracting

3:47

a severe case of COVID may

3:49

have a long lasting impact on depressive

3:52

and anxiety symptoms, so

3:55

that's still there. It's also impacted different

3:57

people and different populations diferent

4:00

ways. So for example, there's I found

4:02

some research studies about children and teens

4:04

and how they're dealing with that, people with

4:06

financial difficulties, people with illness,

4:09

people with disabilities, people who had

4:11

out or have social anxiety disorders.

4:15

They are impacted differently. Studies

4:17

show women were more impacted than men

4:19

by this post pandemic

4:21

anxiety. But we've

4:24

also discussed a lot of the reasons why that might be.

4:26

And it's also worth noting that that was true

4:28

pre pandemic too, so it's sort of par

4:31

for the course. Studies also

4:33

found that increased social media use

4:35

during the pandemic led to increased social

4:38

anxiety. Obviously,

4:41

there are a lot of factors to consider there,

4:43

but I thought that was interesting. And

4:45

also, yeah, it's important to remember that a

4:47

lot of times these conversations can be ablest

4:50

nature, especially

4:52

for people who again have already had these anxieties

4:56

or what have you. So just

4:58

a good reminder. So

5:01

I'm just gonna run down a couple of things that I've

5:04

experienced that I found

5:06

research on.

5:08

One is hugs.

5:10

I okay, so I'm

5:14

not a hugger every now

5:16

and then. I do like

5:19

hugging people. There are certain people I hug more

5:21

than others like my mom,

5:23

for instance, but in general, I'm

5:26

good hugged you.

5:28

Have I ever rugged you?

5:28

We hugged, We hugged one time. I

5:32

remember it because I was like, we're hugging.

5:34

Because I'm also not a hugger.

5:37

I am not.

5:38

It's weird. It was after the

5:40

the audio book, after we recorded

5:43

it, I hugged you. I

5:45

was in a desperate place emotion.

5:50

To experience that I forgot.

5:53

How could you? That's not like

5:56

how much I don't hug as I remember. But

6:00

speaking of so, I've

6:04

had this experience twice lately

6:06

within the past two weeks where

6:09

I've been like, I'm I know, hugs for

6:11

me, and then a hug has been initiated

6:14

and I don't know what to do. And one

6:16

was at the office, right

6:19

and I hugged a coworker of ours

6:21

because he was like, let's hug. But

6:23

then you hugged someone else, and I was like, I'm

6:28

not coming over there unless you come

6:30

over there. And then I felt bad because I'm like, it's

6:32

just because he asked me to hug. If you don't ask me to.

6:33

Hug specifically, I

6:36

don't get a hug. He said that I was trying to remember

6:38

when that was, like what was aut the office? But

6:41

yeah, because I haven't seen

6:43

her in forever, and I

6:45

as much as I don't, I'm not a touchy feely person.

6:48

I do give hugs, which is odd,

6:51

but I typically read if

6:53

people are not huggers, I

6:56

typically do that. Maybe I'm wrong,

6:58

but like, oh,

7:00

I guess I made Joey hug me.

7:02

Hey Joey.

7:02

Uh because I had met them

7:05

in New York. I was like, heyay, like

7:07

you know, it's all. I gave them a hug. But

7:09

I'm more of a side hug person too. Yeah,

7:12

unless I know you really well, I

7:14

feel like the hug.

7:16

And I was thinking about this because I

7:19

was going through all kinds of ideas about what this

7:22

originally Happy Hour which is now Monday

7:24

Mini, was going to be. I was just gonna do a

7:26

whole thing on hugs, and I was thinking

7:28

about, like it's it

7:31

feels to me like it's

7:33

it seems in a lot of situations

7:36

I have been men shake hands and

7:38

women hug right, or men

7:40

hug women right. But it's

7:43

it's so it's almost like the natural

7:45

I can when I'm feeling anxious, like sometimes

7:47

I'll go in for a hug, even though I don't want to hug, but I'm like, I

7:49

think they want one, I guess I'll do it.

7:52

So I totally get

7:54

it. Like sometimes it just sort of happens.

7:57

Yeah, I did the side hug. I noticed that.

8:00

So the other day I had friends come and pick

8:02

up something that they needed to come and it's pretty giant,

8:04

and so they came with other people to help

8:06

load it up. So there was four of them, and

8:09

two of the women are really I'm really close

8:11

to, Like I see them every week twice a week typically

8:14

at Zoomba, but like we've after like ten

8:16

years, you forged your friendship and we like

8:18

they came to my birthday party. I've been to their

8:20

birthday things all the things, and we give hugs.

8:23

And then there are two guys with them, and I'm like, oh,

8:25

what do I do here? Because one of them I met for

8:28

the first time, one of them I have seen, i've known, also

8:30

was part of the class, so I gave him a side hug. It was very

8:32

obviously I gave hugs, side hug

8:34

and then the handshake to the dude that I just met that

8:37

day.

8:37

It was so like that way.

8:40

And then I'm like I'm a hand I literally said

8:42

it out loud because it was obvious that I.

8:43

Just switched to handshake just

8:46

to him.

8:47

So I was like, I simply just met I'm don't give you a handshake,

8:49

and he was like, he started laughing, like I got you,

8:51

I got you. So yeah, I understand,

8:54

really really interesting, Like how do you proceed?

8:57

Yeah? And I think that's a good way, Like addressing

8:59

awkwardness can

9:01

help alleviate awkwardness, make it

9:03

worse.

9:07

Both things have happened, both can happen.

9:10

I do think one of the things I read

9:12

when I was researching this was people

9:14

feel like they don't know how to gracefully exit

9:17

the conversation anymore. And

9:20

this, I feel like the hug for me has become

9:25

I guess we'll hug and then I know, but

9:27

I feel like the hug is getting wrapped up in this.

9:30

And I recently I hung out with your partner

9:32

and a couple of other people and you were telling

9:35

me like I left. Yeah, I was like, we've got to go

9:37

because I knew I won't be able to get out of this conversation.

9:40

I was running late. Was

9:42

it awkward?

9:43

Yes?

9:43

Did I need to go? Yes?

9:47

For me?

9:47

I just leave. Well's

9:58

so funny is I've become so abrupt.

10:01

I've never been good at small

10:03

talk anyway. We've talked about this previously.

10:06

I want to get to know you for having a conversation

10:09

or having a conversation. I've gotten more

10:11

distracted, Like I'm more easily

10:13

distracted than before, where I'm like looking

10:15

sideways to the point wh people like if something came coming

10:17

to get me. But at

10:20

that point, like if it lulls, I'm like, well,

10:22

okay, I go bye, just abruptly

10:25

say bye and leave like

10:27

that was awkward, okay,

10:29

And then like I because I'm on the I'm

10:31

the same way on the phone, which

10:33

I don't like talking on the phone, but

10:36

like eventually we just sit in silence,

10:38

and because I don't know what else to do, like okay,

10:40

i'll talk to you later. But oftentimes

10:43

as I say out okay, I talked to you later, they started

10:45

ramping up something else, I'm like bye, and.

10:47

I hate.

10:49

Without knowing but they had just started.

10:52

But I'm like, but I just said bye, so I'm obviously gonna

10:54

click off. And that's

10:58

kind of my personality now, is just abruptly

11:00

to get up and go and I find

11:03

myself thinking this

11:05

is real.

11:07

Awkward.

11:09

Well, you are not the only one that is struggling with

11:11

that. I will tell you. I

11:14

have found a lot of articles about it and

11:19

a lot of advice that really cracked me up

11:21

on how to deal with It's funny, but

11:24

essentially a lot of it was we

11:27

aren't used to it. It's like a social skill we haven't

11:29

been using, and now you

11:32

gotta build it back up if

11:34

you want to, if you want, if you

11:36

want to. I had

11:38

a similar moment with my mom. I finally got a hold of my

11:40

mom. I had a similar

11:42

moment with her on the phone where there was a moment of silence

11:45

and I was like, this is the end of the conversation

11:48

or is she waiting to say something? Is she waiting

11:50

for me to say something? Oh my,

11:54

I would say something. Else that

11:56

I've experienced in terms

11:59

of what is

12:02

still really hanging on to me is habits

12:04

that I formed, including things which

12:06

I discussed recently, like fan

12:09

fiction, where I'm now writing fan fiction

12:12

where that has become like I

12:14

have to do this every once a week. And

12:18

I was doing that during the pandemic to get

12:21

through the pandemic, but now it's like entrenched

12:25

and I don't know what to do about it. I don't know if it's

12:27

bad or good. But it's like a new block

12:29

of time has been taken away, and

12:31

so it's like, sure, I could go outside

12:33

more now, but the

12:36

fan fiction, I kind of do this. So

12:39

it's that's something that I've been kind of working

12:42

on. Balancing more another

12:45

thing, and I want to come back and do a whole episode

12:47

on this, but I'm just gonna mention it. And

12:49

this is where we get into like the fat phobic part

12:52

is that I've been reading a lot of articles about

12:56

because we mentioned we were going to do an episode on

12:58

this about Oz and

13:00

I was impic anxiety where

13:03

it feels like everybody and

13:05

a lot of people are using this to

13:07

lose weights. And I

13:09

gained weight during the pandemic, so

13:11

it feels like a sort of anxiety

13:14

of like

13:16

I'm just gonna stand out even more, which is

13:18

incredibly incredibly unhealthy and fat phobic.

13:21

But I feel like there is this sort of being

13:26

not comfortable with your body after the pandemic.

13:29

And I've been thinking about this in terms of

13:31

I kept telling myself, you know, you'll lose this weight,

13:35

but I bought a lot of like sweatpants

13:38

and T shirts during the pandemic, and

13:40

so I need to get rid of some clothes because I got two weik

13:43

clothes and there's there have been hanging

13:45

on to you lose this weight. You can think these again

13:47

one day and I'm like, I'm kind of

13:49

having a moment of like, I don't know,

13:51

are you? So

13:54

it's sort of I

13:57

do want to come back and talk about this, just because I had

13:59

so many conversations with my friends about it, and

14:03

it is impacting, as

14:05

we mentioned in a recent classics sort of

14:09

the body acceptance.

14:14

But that's definitely I've been a part

14:16

of why I feel

14:19

I've had more trouble going out than

14:21

I used to.

14:22

I agree things to wear things, clothing

14:25

because I don't have clothes anymore because I don't

14:27

fit into them because

14:29

I'm not a I've never been skinny.

14:32

So that's one

14:34

of those things that I have always

14:37

dealt with. I mean, I think we've talked about this both,

14:39

but like being chubby and being told

14:42

constantly you're chubby and

14:45

then knowing that impacting

14:50

instead of being And I'm sad

14:52

that we're back to this because I love the generation where

14:55

people love themselves. And I feel that

14:57

same way about like I think my nieces

15:00

have gotten to the point where they understand

15:02

a little more and they have a help even

15:05

though their parents come from the age

15:07

gen Xers come from the age of diet pills

15:09

and supermodels on all

15:12

the things, Like gen X has

15:14

a whole different perspective to me like this

15:16

this also could be a different show, because

15:18

you know, Weight Watchers was a big thing, still

15:22

is, but it was really big neutral system

15:24

all these things what was being

15:26

pandered to us. Even it's

15:29

bad today, but I feel like there's at least

15:31

some rhetoric against it as where before

15:33

it wasn't there at all. And

15:36

so like gen X's parents, I think

15:39

have a hard time not letting that go and

15:41

not letting that go for their family, especially in the South.

15:44

We'll put that in a different way.

15:46

But with that like feeling

15:49

like my sister was size

15:51

zero in high school. I got

15:53

her closes in seventh grade and they fit. They

15:55

didn't fit me, like I could not

15:58

fit into our clothes after that fact, So so

16:00

it was never a threat. She had an eating disorder,

16:02

and I don't know what that eating disorder was, but she

16:05

had enough that she would pass out because

16:07

she forgot to eat. She refused to eat,

16:09

and if she had Reese's cup, that was her

16:11

meal for the day. But with that, she kind

16:13

of allowed that to dictate, not

16:16

necessarily telling her kids they're fat, but be

16:18

like, do you really you know you're kind of thick?

16:20

Do you really want to wear that?

16:22

So like shaming them, not because she

16:24

doesn't want them to, not because she's trying to make

16:26

them lose weight, but more so like body

16:28

shane them so they would wear clothes that cover us,

16:31

which is what we've learned, like in

16:33

our generation, I think millennials

16:35

and an exers, if we're fat,

16:38

that means we need to be covered up from head

16:40

to toe and not showing anything

16:44

and that rhetoric. Yes, this is all

16:46

so fat phobic and so disturbing, and

16:49

I'm sad again that we're back to this. But this

16:51

level of like hating everything

16:53

about our body. So therefore,

16:56

if it looks uncomfortable,

16:58

slash makes other people uncomfortable,

17:02

than we are in the wrong and there's something wrong

17:04

with us. And with that it's hard

17:06

to let go of, especially

17:09

do going out in public. So for me, I'm

17:12

like extra covered up and I'm like, yeah,

17:14

definitely, I'm wearing her sixteen layers. Is it ninety

17:17

five degrees and it's like like

17:19

dying of humidity?

17:21

Yes? But am I going to keep wearing this sweater?

17:24

Yeah?

17:24

Because I hate my arms. Like there's so many

17:26

things like to this that is so fat phobic,

17:29

and we've learned from so much, which doesn't

17:31

really make sense because the body

17:33

is the body. There's nothing really, there's nothing

17:35

that we should be ashamed about. But

17:38

because we've learned that it's so hard

17:40

to let go of that. And then the pandemic. For

17:42

a minute, we were all like, let's just be us

17:44

because everything's going to hell. Let's

17:46

just finally enjoy food and

17:49

you know, hang out and not worry about

17:51

these things. And then coming

17:54

back out in public where people who

17:57

make money off of that system, people

18:01

who maybe uh have

18:04

the money to look

18:07

these ways. Ozambic being that problem

18:10

solver for some really like makes

18:12

you feel like you have to meet that

18:14

centered again, which is so

18:17

so infuriating.

18:18

And everything else. I'm just rambling.

18:20

I'm just rambling now because I think, like what

18:22

I saw with my sister and

18:24

then my mya nieces, whom I

18:27

love is like the change in attitude,

18:29

and I love that, and I hope it

18:31

stays like that's that's my biggest hope,

18:33

because I don't want them to

18:35

have to deal with this

18:38

conversation repeatedly

18:40

and feeling like who they are is

18:43

something to be ashamed about. And I feel like

18:46

coming out of the pandemic for

18:49

a couple of years now. And I

18:51

say this because we're not out of the pandemic like

18:53

this, like people are dying, people are dying, people

18:55

are sick. We should be coming up, we should be masking still,

18:58

but coming

19:01

to this like people are like, Okay, you've had enough time. Why

19:03

aren't you perfect? And

19:05

I feel like we weigh that on ourselves, and that's part

19:07

of the reason I'm like, yeah, I can't come out because

19:09

we didn't hit that perfect stride as we were told

19:11

we should be.

19:12

Yeah. I know a lot of people wrote about that

19:14

too, of like feeling the mental

19:17

drain of what used

19:19

to be every day of like putting on your makeup

19:21

and putting on the clothes and like it's just too

19:23

exhausting, which is again part

19:26

of the There has been

19:28

research into this and why that is. And

19:30

I think we

19:35

will come back and do a whole thing because

19:37

I feel like we're in a big shift in

19:40

the US in the US with a zipech and

19:42

all those things and what's going on, So

19:45

we will come back and do it. But that is a bigger conversation

19:47

for a later day.

19:58

Something else. I found a lot

20:00

of people doing that. I noticed I was doing too.

20:03

It's like basically kind of consolidating

20:07

your friends, like you're kind of

20:09

it sounds terrible, but you're kind of like, well,

20:12

I haven't talked to you in a while, so I guess. But

20:16

I was kind of going through this the other day and

20:19

I was thinking, I haven't seen this person in

20:21

a while, and I was like, I think I'm good without

20:23

them. Then I had a thought.

20:25

I was like, but then

20:28

they won't like me anymore. And I was like, what

20:30

are you talking about? What? But

20:32

that's how important being liked is

20:35

to me that I was like perfectly

20:37

fine without this relationship. But there's

20:39

still a part of me that's like, no, but.

20:42

Right, I think you've got to hit onto

20:45

it in a second. But for

20:47

me, it's not that I don't

20:49

I'm trying to consolidate my friends because I kind of

20:51

already did that. Five years

20:53

ago, because I'm like, you're toxic. You're toxic, You're

20:55

toxic. I just didn't know they were toxic. I just knew they

20:58

were bad for me, essentially,

21:00

like you are a taker,

21:02

you are like this and this and this, so

21:05

therefore I'm yeah, I don't need you. We're good if you

21:07

call and you want to hang sure, but outside

21:09

of that, I'm not making the effort. So

21:11

that was because of like I feel like that's a late mid

21:13

late thirties thing that happens.

21:16

You're like, yeah, I don't have time for you because there's too

21:18

much and if you're not someone

21:20

that we can be both

21:22

good for each other, then what's

21:24

the point, right, And

21:27

I don't have to be friends with every

21:29

damn person in the world, and

21:31

there are bad people, yeah, just

21:34

to that, But as of late, it's

21:36

more than I forget so

21:39

other people have texted me or reach out, and then I

21:41

get tired and I'm like, yeah, i think I'm

21:43

gonna pair down my time and only see people

21:46

once every other week, so there's two people I

21:48

can see next week and then nothing.

21:51

It's just more like.

21:55

I'm tired and or forgetful,

21:57

and I'm not purposely trying to trim down my friend

22:00

I love y'all.

22:03

Yeah, I mean that makes sense too, that

22:05

makes sense. I

22:08

did. Uh.

22:11

I went and got dim sum with my big group

22:13

of friends the other day from

22:15

my who I grew up with, and we used to do it every

22:18

year before the pandemic, and

22:20

it was so bizarre being with them. It

22:22

was lovely, it was such a great thing. But

22:25

we just hadn't done that since the pandemic. And

22:28

so there are the relationships that you can sort of

22:30

you know, you don't see each other all the time necessarily,

22:33

and that's fine, and

22:35

when you hang out it's still great. But then there

22:37

are the people that are sort of like, yeah,

22:41

I guess your relationship change and

22:44

close you

22:46

change, you change. Yeah, exactly.

22:48

Actually I made this statement to a friend of mine. I

22:50

was like, I think some of my friends might heart my feelings

22:53

and I can't be around them too much because I've become

22:55

more sensitive.

22:57

So I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to watch this

22:59

one. Yeah.

23:01

So I am real sarcastic and

23:04

really like you know, all those things, but I've gotten

23:08

less not sarcastic, but more like, oh

23:10

no, are you okay?

23:11

Like that?

23:12

Time of person and also like

23:14

everything is oh no, everything's

23:16

the worst. Don't be mean to me.

23:20

Personality.

23:21

Now I have that too, and I'm like, I can't

23:23

handle this right now, cannot

23:25

bring this topic up with me right this minute

23:28

later? Would I'm more emotionally still sure?

23:31

Right? But yes

23:34

for me? So originally

23:36

I called this the new isolation because I realized

23:38

that I had this new thing that I'd had developed,

23:41

which was I needed one day literally

23:44

where I interact with no one except

23:46

over text. And apparently that is

23:49

part from these research papers. If

23:52

you've been I mean I live alone, if you've been

23:54

inside in quarantine,

23:57

it makes sense that it becomes you can't

23:59

just just like go back. You

24:02

can't just flip that switch and go back to how much you

24:04

were doing before socially outside.

24:08

So it's sort of like you know, building up, touching,

24:12

getting your toe in the water. But I,

24:15

for mine, mine is one day where

24:18

I just there's nobody text, yes,

24:21

but no visual.

24:26

Sometimes it scares me because I'm worried

24:28

I will chip and die in the shower. No

24:30

one will know, but eventually

24:33

hopefully someone will figure it out. Also,

24:38

I know we've talked about this, but COVID

24:40

fog Israel, which is basically

24:42

like you kind of feel a little dazed,

24:45

can't concentrate, maybe,

24:48

and prolonged isolation can impact your

24:50

memory and verbal recall, which is why for some

24:52

of us who have been alone or are used

24:54

to having like a conversational pattern

24:57

of only a few people during lockdown, talking

25:00

with someone new might feel like you

25:02

have no idea what you're saying. So I feel like this

25:04

is me translating for your snuff. Maybe

25:07

we were we were picking up

25:11

this an adaption during COVID. Maybe

25:14

we spent.

25:14

So much time.

25:15

Also, I just I think mine

25:17

is both COVID fog and

25:20

I'm gonn going with the perimenopause stuff that

25:22

I'm like, I don't know what I was trying to say.

25:24

I've lost the words completely, so I'm just gonna start

25:27

doing descriptors. And

25:29

for a little while I was trying to correct myself,

25:32

I have finally given up and just look

25:34

at you if you're around, or just stop talking.

25:36

So I'm like, I'm not fixing this.

25:40

That's it. But

25:44

I hope that was interesting because uh,

25:47

some people reported that they didn't have trouble

25:49

communicating with people they hung

25:51

out with a lot, like usually a partner, but it was

25:53

when they got outside of that group. So it's like they had

25:56

developed almost a language

25:58

that worked between.

25:58

Them, secret code.

26:00

Yeah.

26:01

So I thought that was interesting, like how children

26:03

do it.

26:04

Yeah, and then yes, if you're

26:06

like me, where you still feel things

26:08

like grocery shopping are overwhelming when

26:12

they weren't before, because again this was

26:14

impacting people before. I was always

26:17

dressed about grocery shopping, but it

26:19

it's kind of way worse. That is also

26:22

a thing that has been studied post

26:24

pandemic because apparently,

26:27

as I said that, we we kind of have this like

26:29

social stamina that we all need to

26:31

build up again again if you want to. But

26:34

it's like a muscle that we've all kind

26:36

of it's gone out of use.

26:38

It needs to be built up again. I

26:41

did find a lot of articles, as I said, that had

26:43

advice that made me laugh. It would be like

26:45

tip one go outside, like

26:48

okayd

26:52

there was some good stuff out there, but it was also kind

26:54

of like okay. But I

26:56

think overall they were saying,

26:58

you know that this is gonna it's not going

27:00

to go away immediately for

27:02

most people. They did say, some people, you

27:05

know, do and just find it seems but for

27:07

a lot of us, it's not just going to go away, and it

27:09

is something to like slowly

27:11

work up towards. And maybe you know that

27:14

doesn't mean work up towards what you

27:16

were doing before the pandemic, but like if

27:18

you're currently having

27:20

trouble, if you want to do two things

27:22

a week but you can't your

27:25

social stamina is just too low, then

27:27

you can you can build up to that. Yeah, just

27:31

it's gonna take some time. It's gonna take

27:33

some time, and

27:36

I do think I've gotten better, but it is still hilarious.

27:38

How many times I leave it like hanging out with somebody

27:40

like wow, that

27:42

was awkward. Right. Yeah,

27:46

As I said, this was a very quick

27:50

breakdown on this, and some of these need to

27:52

be bigger episodes for

27:54

sure, and always

27:57

worth reminding that. Yeah, a lot of this conversation,

28:00

when you read it or talk about it, can be very

28:02

able to so to keep that in mind.

28:05

But in the meantime,

28:07

if you listeners have

28:09

any thoughts on this, then please

28:11

let us know. You can email us

28:13

at Stuffia mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You

28:15

can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or on

28:17

Instagram and TikTok at Stuff I've Never told You.

28:20

We have a tea public store, and we have a book

28:23

you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as

28:25

always to our super producer Christina, executive

28:27

producer Maya, and our contributor Joey.

28:29

Thank you.

28:30

Thanks to you for listening Stuff I Never Told You, his

28:32

production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio,

28:34

you can check out the iet Radio Apple podcast regular

28:36

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